Road Trip. Updates. Writing. PFS. NeoExodus. Everything.

Last week, I spent a fair amount of time last week on the road, driving through Colorado, then Kansas, then Missouri, then Illinois, then Indiana and finally into Kentucky…

A total of 1100 miles (or 1770km) of sitting by myself, thinking about NeoExodus; gaming in general; how the landscape of Kansas made me think of Sametia; the potholes on the road; how ridiculously warm Missouri was (99’F with nearly 100% humidity); what football team will I get to watch on TV this year; why Illinois only has a speed limit of 65mph when there is nothing to see/do; how I can hide my sunburnt left arm from the sun; what character(s) I would like to play; which character(s) I would NOT like to play; thought about abandoned writing projects; wondering who I would meet here; a few ideas for some fiction pieces; wondering if my family will enjoy Kentucky and how they will integrate. I think you get my drift.

I had a LOT of time to think. I mean a LOT of time.

The Music

I add the list of CDs I listened to on the way, in addition to the local Country Music stations in Salina, Kansas City, and St-Louis. For some reason the programming of my Colorado channels matched to country station. I’m not a big fan of it, but I don’t dislike it either. And it was a nice to hear something different. Plus I figured if I’m to live about 2h from Nashville… I’d better get up to speed on it.

Artist	Album
Avantasia	The Metal Opera Part 2
Genesis	Selling England by the Pound
Genesis	A Trick of the tail
Fairyland	Score to a new beginning
Iron Maiden	Best of the Beast
Marillion	Clutching at straws
Oasis	Definitely Maybe
Rush	2112
Rush	Power Windows
The Cure	Galore
Yes	Classic Yes

NeoExodus Plotline: Legacy of Lies

With the changes made by the PaizoCon people, I had to juggle a few things. But that’s all right. I thought some more about next year’s plotline and where I wanted it to go. I now have to write it all down… A monumental task indeed! But definitely a fun one… I will have to talk to LPJ about it. If he ever comes online when I’m around! But fun stuff. I think he will agree.

For the past few years now, NeoExodus players have been skirting the plots of Arem’Shehr, the Khaynite. This year might be the one where they come to meet him/her face to face…

Yup, Legacies players may get to take down the Big Bad Guy!

Notice that I said *MAY*. That’s because such a confrontation will be decided by adventure results.

I have decided that next year’s theme will be Legacy of Lies.

Gaming in general

One of the things that irked me recently was a discussion I saw where a player equated being Lawful Good to being an overly goodie-two-shoes while the player of the LG character was just an insensitive jerk.

One thing about alignment systems is that they promote this kind of thinking where “everyone of a given alignment must fit this mold”… “Except if you’re chaotic neutral then you are evil but just not all the time”. I never tell people my alignment (or pretty much anything, ever, except to the GM) to avoid getting into those types of discussions. They annoy me.

Greatly.

One of the things I really like about the World of Darkness is that it uses a Nature/Demeanor combo to give GMs and players guidelines on how the character would act. This duality can create a lot of unique characters. I still try and think of my characters in these terms then add the alignment as a third element for the character. By doing that, I get a good idea on how the character would play, and how he/she would react to moral decisions. I don’t see alignment as the nature/demeanor part of someone. Rather it is the person’s moral compass upon which their nature will play.

Oh and the “I’m neutral so I don’t care” argument is TOTAL BS. One of the major changes in 3e+ is that “neutrality” or “balance” is no more an active force. At least not in alignment terms. Neutrality or balance may be a force in the game world that seeks to maintain balance between order and chaos (a la Moorcock).

Back to the irking - being a lawful good insensitive jerk is quite a change from the norm, but not something I think is impossible. The question of how/why that character is like that can be multiple. Maybe he doesn’t realize it. Maybe he just swears constantly. I would be surprised if the character would be insensitive on purpose. But sure, it happens to the best of us. We all made some insensitive comment about others whether we meant it or not.

I know I have.

Then again I make no claim to be Lawful Good (I am true neutral).

Characters I would like to play

I would really like to play an Enuka Shamanist cleric or druid. I also thought about making a female gevet bard (performing suggestive dancing) – I got this idea off a devilish woman on an ad. I think it was for a “Gentlemen’s Club” in Missouri.

NO, I did not stop. I only watched the ad as I drove by.

I also thought about building PFS characters, though I came up somewhat dry. Most of the ideas I had felt flat. My next character will be Sicarus, a Razmiran Missionary. Based on the numerous Kentucky jokes I endured, I am thinking of making a dwarf character called Road Kill Joe who hunt possums and eats “animals crushed by wagons and carriages he finds on the road.” Definitely make him some type of mutt combatant: Ranger/Barbarian/Gunslinger/Fighter combo… Should be fun for sure!

YES there is a little Duck Dynasty influence there…

Characters I have no desire to play

Halflings.

Gnome.

Abandoned Writing Projects

You remember 2010? Remember Akos? Well I have been thinking about it recently and about whether or not I would like to revive it. I spoke with some of my old collaborators and was given a GREAT idea on how to expand/tweak it. Maybe even publish it on my own… I am juggling a number of ideas.

Yes, there would be a number of common traits with NeoExodus: the political element, the shades-of-gray approach. Writing the campaign book for NeoExodus really taught me a lot and the No-Longer-Akos campaign setting would benefit from that.

Even better, it could have some (distant) ties with NeoExodus and other 3PP game worlds! Yes… I thought of that. Have the one-off cross-world plots. Always intriguing. Always interesting. Right now, I do not have the time to really focus on that. But I just might get to it in the future. I may be touching it here and there as I get the fancy.

Some of the initial constraints I had are no longer present (since it is going from a collaborative effort to a one-man project), so I have a number of things I need to rewrite, tweak or change. One of those things is the map itself I plan on changing the whole layout and expand it.

Then I have another setting idea I’ve been toying with. This one is clearly different and I plan to incorporate elements of what I think Primeval Thule is going to include. A lot of different influences for that, I am actually thinking of calling it “a setting extension” rather than a full-blown setting. A lot of ideas need to be sorted out in my head first. This one is a LONG LONG LONG way down the road. We’re talking years.

Fiction

I have been reading a fair amount of fantasy fiction lately. Namely, the Dragonlance Chronicles, but also some Dark Sun novels (Rise and Fall of a Dragon King), some Pathfinder novels(Winter Witch, Blood of the City, The Worldwound Gambit), some stuff I got from PaizoCon, and even some old favorites (Agatha Christie – okay she’s not a fantasy writer).

In addition to writing a few short pieces of fictions, I came up with a number of ideas. Usually for short stories, ever since I read Edgar Allan Poe in 10th grade I’ve been a fan of the format. Short. Sweet. Simple. Not over complicated. With an evil ending. Just like I like my TV, my movies, my adventures, my plotlines. Well… Poe formed a lot of things in my still young and impressionable mind.

I have a few pages written for it already and will be refining the writing for it before I submit it to LPJ. Yes, these are NeoExodus fiction. But I also have a few ideas for more “generic” fantasy (as in not NeoExodus-specific but could be set there).

Now…

Well as of last Friday I have been in Kentucky and enjoying myself. Miss the kiddos & wife, but other than that… Good news all around! It’s weird to be back in an apartment after living in a house for seven years. No screaming kids to wake me up. No wife pulling the blankets.

Yeah… I miss them.

At least I get some decent writing time! (I say that and I didn’t do much more than watch TV and play Close Combat II from Saturday thru Monday nights)

JP